Travel Guide Baïkonour

The Baikonur launch site was set up in 1955 by the Soviets in the highest secret during the space race. In the middle of the steppe, under the direction of engineer Sergey Korolev, who had just developed the first Russian intercontinental ballistiques missiles, would develop what remains today the largest and most active rocket launching centre in the world. All Russian manned flights depart from Baikonur, a town that remains administered by Russia and whose mayor is appointed jointly by the Russian and Kazakh presidents.The Baïkonour name is that of a tiny mining town located more than 300 km north of the launch site, which was christened at the launch of Vostok 1 to deceive American spies on the real location of the base. The new town, built to shelter the engineers, workers and scientists working at the launch site, and planned to accommodate more than 100 000 people, became a ghost town with no tourist interest.